With yesterday's passing of the superb Eva Marie Saint, I wanted to repost my review of what is, for me, her finest role on the big screen. She's terrific.) Hitchcock's never had more fun putting an innocent man in danger than he did in the 1959 classic NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Four years after he and Hitch teamed up for the superb "To Catch A Thief", Cary Grant stars as Madison Avenue advertising executive Roger Thornhill. Polished, funny and successful, Thornhill barely sits dow

The posters for VERITY boldly pronounce, "There is no light where we are going." For full transparency, it should have also added "and no human dialogue and an incredibly impossible story with plot holes the size of New Jersey". I so wanted this film to be a 2020's version of the superb erotic thrillers of the 80's like "Basic Instinct" and "Jagged Edge". It's just begging for a smooth Jerry Goldsmith music score. Alas. We meet writer Lowen Ashleigh (a fine Dakota Johnson) wh

Is there anything more reliable these days than how enjoyable the latest Jason Statham action flick will be? MUTINY is another cracking thriller, packed with fast paced action, a rip-roaring revenge story and just the right amount of drama behind the thrills. Statham is on a roll the past few years, delivering exactly what we expect and count on every. single. time. Since 2024, he's served up "The Beekeeper", "A Working Man", "Shelter" and now this Die-Hard-on-the-high-seas t

Sitting through Inarritu's excruciating new film DIGGER is like being locked in a lecture hall with a smug, angry, ageist, America-hating professor who hits you over the head with their same opinion over and over again for 129 minutes, while a boombox in the corner plays the most excruciating accompanying music you can imagine. But wait! It's supposed to be funny satire! When you talk about film satire to me, I think about Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H*" or Paddy Chayefsky's "The

A taut, terrifying serial killer thriller blended with a wilderness survival tale in stunning Australian locations, APEX isn't quite the predator it wants to be, but it's got some serious teeth. As the film opens, we meet Sasha (Charlize Theron) and her husband Tommy (Eric Bana) in the middle of an incredible climb. They are attempting to reach the peak of the Troll Wall, the highest vertical face in Norway. Wrapped in an approaching blizzard, Sasha pushes them forward, far p

Massive in scale and in its 4 hour plus length, CLEOPATRA is the definitive 60's, old Hollywood blockbuster that delivers high drama, huge old school stars and a never boring tale carried by three megawatt stars of the time. The troubled, unending production of this film is a story as fascinating as the film itself. It's star and director both nearly died making this hard to resist film behemoth. Where do you start with this legendary film? Let's start with the spectacle from

The devil's in the fascinating details in David Kittredge's excellent new documentary BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL. As the tagline on the poster says, "Every artist has his demon". Director John Boorman's almost ended his career when he took on 'Exorcist II: The Heretic" in 1977. With unprecedented access, trust among the participants and enjoyable depth, Kittredge unveils the history behind one of the most anticipated & hated films of the 20th century. Through archive footage, behi

"I was, to be frank, a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout and badly in need of a good ass-kicking." So begins the opening frame of TONY with Anthony Bourdain's description of his 19-year-old self. The biographical film that follows plunges us into the summer of 1975, with the young, overly confident Bourdain bullshitting his way through a pitch to a college committee, his parents at home and every young woman within range. By carving

ONE NIGHT ONLY is so much more than what I expected. It's hilarious. It's a very sexy throwback to frank 70's and 80's film comedies AND it's got a strange "Purge"-style one night event around sex. I don't know how this works, but it does! Credit two guys that have spent a lot of time making solid kids content, that apparently had a lot of pent up ideas for adult content that explode onto screen in style. Director Will Gluck turned out the family-friendly and funny "Peter Rab

Action packed, hilarious and super powered by Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh, MAYDAY is a relentlessly perfect tribute to a classic 80's action film. Thanks to excellent creatives and a big AppleTV budget, it never lets up, walloping you with big action scenes in the spirit of everything from "Top Gun" to "Firefox" with big laughs and a bit of heart to perfect the mix. Reynolds is in"Spirited" form as hotshot navy pilot Troy "Assassin" Kelly, leading a 1987 top secret miss